Saturday, October 15, 2011

2012: Obama vs. an Evangelical, or vs. a Mormon?

If American political campaigns reflect public opinion, the 2012 presidential election is shaping up as a choice between President Obama and one of several evangelical Christians, all of whom have now publicly announced that God has called him/her to the campaign; or, there's Mitt Romney, the leading Mormon candidate.

On the surface, Romney's strength seems at odds with the tea party's fiery success in ousting Republicans seen as compromisers, and in making the House GOP caucus more ideological, even when its leaders plead for flexibility.

Romney defends the government's 2008 bank bailouts, plus the mandated health insurance he initiated as Massachusetts governor. He says he can work with "good Democrats." Although he later changed, Romney once supported abortion rights, gun control and gay rights.

These positions run counter to the beliefs and goals of many tea party activists scattered throughout the country. . . .

Polls of Republicans show Romney holding steady at about 25 percent, while Bachmann, Perry and Cain take turns making surges. "That tells me that 75 percent of the primary voters would really rather have someone else," said GOP lobbyist and consultant Mike McKenna.